{"id":147388,"date":"2025-02-28T17:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T23:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windycityparrot.com\/?p=147388"},"modified":"2025-02-28T17:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T23:35:11","slug":"what-we-dont-know-about-avian-cognitive-and-emotional-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/?p=147388","title":{"rendered":"What We Dont Know About Avian Cognitive and Emotional\u00a0Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Please let us know what&#8217;s important to you in the comments below.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While parrots like African greys and cockatoos have been studied for their problem-solving abilities and mimicry, research on the emotional depth, intelligence, and problem-solving skills of smaller parrots (like budgies and lovebirds) and other pet birds (such as finches and canaries) is far more limited.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Other under-researched areas include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Long-Term Nutritional Effects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While there are studies on bird nutrition, long-term studies One of the least studied subjects on pet birds is <\/span><b>avian cognitive and emotional intelligence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014especially in non-psittacine species. While parrots like African greys and cockatoos have been studied for their problem-solving abilities and mimicry, research on the emotional depth, intelligence, and problem-solving skills of smaller parrots (like budgies and lovebirds) and other pet birds (such as finches and canaries) is far more limited.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Irene Pepperberg- Alex and Me: A Scientist and A Parrot Discover A World of Animal Intelligence\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/62rXKjXgr60\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Other under-researched areas include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Long-Term Nutritional Effects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While there are studies on bird nutrition, long-term studies on how different diets affect pet birds&#8217; health across decades (especially in smaller species) are rare.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Aging and Geriatric Care<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Unlike mammals, there\u2019s little research on how pet birds age, how to best care for elderly birds, and what health conditions develop over time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Behavioral Impacts of Captivity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While we know some effects of captivity, studies on how different levels of enrichment, space, and social interaction impact a bird\u2019s mental well-being are lacking.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Reproductive Health in Companion Birds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While fertility and breeding in poultry and commercial birds are well studied, there is less data on hormonal and reproductive health in long-lived pet birds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Zoonotic Diseases and Microbiomes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 The gut microbiome of parrots and its relationship to their health is an emerging field, but research is still in its infancy compared to mammals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"The Moth: Alex &amp; Me - Irene Pepperberg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rrX1nrvPbLY\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on how different diets affect pet birds&#8217; health across decades (especially in smaller species) are rare.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Aging and Geriatric Care<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Unlike mammals, there\u2019s little research on how pet birds age, how to best care for elderly birds, and what health conditions develop over time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Behavioral Impacts of Captivity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While we know some effects of captivity, studies on how different levels of enrichment, space, and social interaction impact a bird\u2019s mental well-being are lacking.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Reproductive Health in Companion Birds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 While fertility and breeding in poultry and commercial birds are well studied, there is less data on hormonal and reproductive health in long-lived pet birds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Zoonotic Diseases and Microbiomes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 The gut microbiome of parrots and its relationship to their health is an emerging field, but research is still in its infancy compared to mammals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Homer Tunnel kea developing new skills on the side\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FuA5tO_c7s4\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please let us know what&#8217;s important to you in the comments below. While parrots like African greys and cockatoos have been studied for their problem-solving abilities and mimicry, research on the emotional depth, intelligence, and problem-solving skills of smaller parrots (like budgies and lovebirds) and other pet birds (such as finches and canaries) is far [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","_thinkrank_schema_form_data":"","_thinkrank_selected_schema_type":"","_thinkrank_additional_schemas":"","_thinkrank_canonical_url":"","_thinkrank_og_title":"","_thinkrank_og_description":"","_thinkrank_og_image":"","_thinkrank_twitter_title":"","_thinkrank_twitter_description":"","_thinkrank_twitter_image":"","_thinkrank_imported_from":"","_thinkrank_focus_keywords":[],"_thinkrank_focus_keyword":"","_thinkrank_robots_meta_enabled":0,"_thinkrank_robots_meta":"","_thinkrank_advanced_robots_meta":"","_thinkrank_exclude_from_search":0,"_thinkrank_exclude_from_archives":0,"_thinkrank_primary_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"page_builder":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,196,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-parrot-anaotmy","category-bird-behavior","category-bird-enviornments"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-close-up-of-afican-grey-parrot-2.jpg?resize=1079%2C445&ssl=1",1079,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-close-up-of-afican-grey-parrot-2.jpg?resize=463%2C348&ssl=1",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-close-up-of-afican-grey-parrot-2.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-close-up-of-afican-grey-parrot-2.jpg?fit=1079%2C1079&ssl=1",1079,1079,false]},"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phcfkq-Cle","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-close-up-of-afican-grey-parrot-2.jpg?fit=1079%2C1079&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}